The Feast of Winter Veil is the end of the year seasonal holiday for World of Warcraft. It's full of presents, achievements, and other seasonal fun. It's also part of the meta-achievement which gives achievement chasers no break during the holidays. Don't worry though; it lasts this year from December 15, 2011 to January 2nd, 2012 or roughly 18 days.

In 2012 the event starts much alter (9:00 AM EST time) and doesn't contain anything new, other than the holiday pets are now battle pets and the item this year will be either a soccer ball or a football. The Miniature Christmas Tree has been revamped to ilvl 480.

In 2011 the Greench has been changed (see our new guide) and a few small changes were made to the event. The holiday pets also have new animations.

In 2010 there isn't much new. It's now harder to get some achievements due to the lack of players in Dalaran, but still possible if you search in starter areas for the race/class combos you are missing.

Over at World of Addons we have a giveaway running where each day you can enter to win one of three World of Warcraft collector editions. As a special bonus, we have new content going up each day leading up to December 25th, so be sure to see all the neat surprises we have waiting for you!

Introduction

Often you will find the area around packed, but that's alright, the holiday lasts for a long time.

The Feast of Winter Veil is your typical winter seasonal holiday with snow, gnomes in holiday gear, presents, cookies, and other seasonal themes. Unlike other holidays there isn't a big focus on loot or character advancement. Instead the focus is on merriment, fun, and having a good time.

The following are the activities available during the holiday:

A rather lengthy list of easy to obtain achievements.

Winter Revelers who can give out snowflakes, fresh holly, or mistletoe when you /kiss them.

Fresh Holly that will transform your mount into a festive reindeer.

Mistletoe that buffs the target by 20 Spirit.

Alterac Valley has mounds of snowballs for you to pickup.

The Winter Wondervolt Machine that will transform you into a festive gnome.

A set of holiday items including a rad santa hat.

Snowmen machines!

Holiday decorations everywhere.

The Wand of Holiday Cheer, found in a present and lasts 10 days, has unlimited charges and makes everyone that it hits laugh.

Several fun questlines.

Basically you can find a lot of awesome things to do. There are a few breadcrumb quests (do NOT buy milk off the Auction House, you can get it from innkeepers for way cheaper) to do, presents to open on December 25th, and a two main questlines. Bosses will also drop the Winter Hats.

Green/Red Winter Hat

Green and Red Winter Hats drop off of heroic bosses in the following instances.

Wrath of the Lich King

Red Hat: Grand Magus Telestra in The Nexus

Red Hat: Jedoga Shadowseeker in Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom

Green Hat: Mage-Lord Urom in the Oculus

Cataclysm

Red Hat: Corla, Hearald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns

Red Hat: Admiral Ripsnarl in The Deadmines

Red Hat: High Priestess Azil in The Stonecore

Green Hat: Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol

Green Hat: Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep.

Simply use the dungeon finder to run the instances with your hat in it over and over until you get it.

Random Humanoid mobs throughout the world also have a chance to drop it.

Great-father (or "Greatfather" for Alliance) Winter offers a quick quest chain. Be sure to do it!

Finding Metzan

There is an achievement associated with this quest and it has been changed drastically from previous years. You'll need to see our Greench Guide in order to rescue Metzan.

Saving Winter Veil

There is an achievement and an entirely new quest for this in 2011 and remains the same in 2012. See our Greench Guide for taking this quest series on.

Misc Quests

Greatfather or Great-father Winter will ask for 5 cookies and some milk. A level 1 cook can make the cookies and the milk is available off the innkeepers.

Winter Veil Achievement Guide

On Metzan!: Free Metzan the Reindeer. See the quest help above.

With a Little Helper from My Friends: Use the Wondervolt outside of Orgrimmar, Dalaran, Ironforge, etc. to turn yourself into a Little Helper and get 50 honorable kills. Go to a high density battleground like AV or Isle of Conquest .

Scrooge: Throw a snowball at King Magni Bronzebeard if you're Alliance or at Cairne Bloodhoof if you're Horde.

Fa-la-la-la-Ogri'la: Do the Bomb-Them-Again! quest while having the reindeer effect on your mount. The problem with this quest is that you have to have the Ogri'la daily quests open to do this one and it's a lengthy quest chain that involves killing some pretty tough (even for 80s) elites. Get started on this one as quick as possible.

'Tis The Season: While wearing 3 pieces of winter clothing, eat a Graccu's Mince Meat Fruitcake. The legs and chest are crafted while the hat is a drop off of either bosses or humanoids throughout the world.

Simply Abominable: Do the quest line to kill the Abominable Greench. See our Greench Guide for more details.

Let it Snow: Kiss enough revelers to get 10 snowflakes. Now, here is the thing. When you kiss one you can't kiss 'em again for an hour. So start as soon as possible since they also give Mistletoe and Holly. Then use it on the classes listed in the achievement.

Bros Before Ho Ho Ho's: Simply use Mistletoe on the brothers listed. For the Alliance you're going to want to go to Stormwind and hunt down five brothers and an additional one in Goldshire. Nimetz is in STV (37,3) and Anton is at Nijel's Point in STV. Karman is in Theramore. It's easier than it seems, since the ones in SW are easy to find. For the Horde you've got to find three. One is in the Undercity, one is in Warsong Hold, and the other is on Ogrim's Hammer.

The Winter Veil Gourmet: Make some Hot Apple Cider, Egg Nog, and Gingerbread Cookies. You have to have 325 cooking for this one. The recipe is sold from the smokeywood vendors in Org/Ironforge.

He Knows If You've Been Naughty: Open one of each present under the tree.

A Frosty Shake: Use your disguise kit and dance with another snowman in Dalaran. Easy huh?

Non-Meta Achievements

The following a year specific achievements, but thanks to the new Stolen Present they can be obtained now.

BB King: Pelt each of the enemy leaders with your BB Gun. THe gun is for sale in Dalaran now and is a gift in the Stolen Present box.(2009)

Crashin' & Thrashin': Gain 25 crashes with your racer by crashing it into other racers. (2008)

A-Caroling We Will Go: Wearing this year's item, Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater, use its ability in the four major enemy cities.

As long as the items don't expire soon, it may be a good idea to wait after the event to pelt the kings / go caroling when the Alliance and Horde aren't on guard so much. You can also get most of these items anytime of the year in the Dalaran Toy Store.[/protip]

Presents

What's the season without some presents? There are six presents available. Two of them require no specific level (Winter Veil Eggnog/Roast & the one with Cookies in it), two of them require level 10 (the yearly specific toy and the Wand of Holiday Cheer), one requires level 20 (the one with either the Green/Red Helper pet, the Snowman pet, or the Bell pet) and the last one requires level 40 and has a Mechanical Greench, 5 Preserved Holly, and a recipe. Some presents like the Greench and Wand expire after a certain period of time but will not expire if you don't take them out of the box.

This year, in 2012, the present should be a soccer or football.

That's the holiday. Have a happy and safe holiday season everyone!

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our
World of Warcraft
Game Page.

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.